


To Have and To Hold

by midnightcastiel



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Canon Universe, Destiel!fluff, First Kiss, M/M, Supportive!Sam, and I was really Vibing with weather symbolism but fluffy, it's a short one folks, listen they're just dorks in love okay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-16
Updated: 2020-09-16
Packaged: 2021-03-07 02:35:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,245
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26499496
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/midnightcastiel/pseuds/midnightcastiel
Summary: The wind steals their breath as they approach the graveyard. Dean walks between Cas and Sam, and he is sure that his nose and hands are frost bitten. Dean barely has time to grumble the complaint out loud before he feels Cas’s hand in his, warm and gentle.
Relationships: Castiel/Dean Winchester
Comments: 3
Kudos: 86





	To Have and To Hold

The first time that it happens, Dean calls it a coincidence.

It’s a happy one, a fitting one, but still a coincidence. Whatever he attributes it to, though, he is certain he didn’t imagine it. 

He knows for a fact that before the movie, it had been raining. He’s not sure exactly when it stopped because he had been too focused on the warmth of Cas’s body on the couch next to him to pay attention to the pattering of rain. But when they emerge together, Dean laughing at Cas’s attempt to sound like a cowboy, the sun beams back.

The next time, it takes more convincing. It seems too convenient, too welltimed to attribute it to coincidence. But he does anyway.

They are in Wisconsin in December for a phantom hitchhiker, and the wind steals their breath as they approach the graveyard. Dean walks between Cas and Sam (who had the foresight to wear gloves and a winter coat), and he is sure that his nose and hands are frost bitten. He barely has time to grumble the complaint out loud before he feels Cas’s hand in his, warm and gentle. 

Dean doesn’t pull away, barely even flinches, but he still needs to steel himself before he tightens his grip. They don’t look at eachother, but Dean feels their shoulders brush, and he realizes that the wind has stopped howling. In its stead, snowflakes fall lightly, swirling lazily around, and the cold doesn’t bother him so much anymore.

After the third time, Dean swallows his pride and confides in Sam. His stomach is a mess of knots and his heart pounds in his chest as he asks Sam if they can talk, but Sam laughs his anxiety back at him and turns it to giddiness.

They’ve left the midwestern cold far behind them this time in favor of southwestern sun. There’s a skinwalker in New Mexico, and there’s also a heatwave. The latter poses much more of a problem, and after stumbling through mountain paths in search of a rabid dog for the better part of 24 hours, Dean feels almost feverish from the sun. They had split up to cover more ground (his idea), and he isn’t looking forward to the trek back to the impala.

He stumbles across Cas first, and he knows angels probably don’t get overheated, but he’d swear that Cas’ face is flushed from either heat or sunburn. Dean offers a lazy wave, which Cas kindly ignores in favor of walking towards him without letting his eyes leave Dean’s face. 

Cas bluntly informs him that his face looks shiny with sweat, but then his voice softens as he adds that Dean has also gained new freckles from the hours outside. Dean thinks that he was right, Cas’s face is definitely redder than usual, his eyes bluer under the unrelenting sun, and his face is definitely closer than before—

When he tells Sam that he kissed Cas, Sam doesn’t even have the grace to act surprised. Dean is secretly glad that he doesn’t have anything to confess that Sam didn’t already know. When he tells him about the gentle rain that started in the aftermath and about the other two times, Sam does seem surprised. He tells him that he’s only ever seen angels change the weather when they’re angry, that it probably takes righteous fury to conjure up that much power. He says that probably, it’s just because Dean wouldn’t notice the weather changing unless it was paired with something notable. An illusory correlation, Sam calls it. Dean’s not convinced.

The last time it happens, Dean is certain.

This time, it’s not long after the previous one. Dean has spent years with Cas dancing over lines he once drew in the sand, and he thinks that they still haven’t quite cleared them all. The drive back from New Mexico felt like a long one, like an important one, but Cas had offered Sam shotgun as soon as it was time to leave, and Dean worries that it’s because Cas knows that otherwise, Dean couldn’t help but have one hand on the steering wheel and Cas’ hand in the other. Even with the seating as it is, Dean can’t help but steal glances in the rear view mirror.

The drive passes quietly.

By the time they’re finally back in Lebanon, back home, Cas is asleep. Dean knows that angels don’t sleep, and he almost has it in him to be worried, but more likely than not, Cas just balled up his trench coat and curled up against the window because Sam had done the same. Dean smiles, because after all these years, Cas still looks to them when he doesn’t know how to act, and Dean supposes that a silent drive after a kiss under the sun would be a situation that leaves Cas uncertain.

Sam stirs beside him, rubbing sleep from his eyes, and before Dean is sure what’s happening, Sam is patting him on the back and walking away into the bunker. Dean thinks he might have said something about luck and waking Cas up, but he can’t be sure.

Somehow, Cas still hasn’t woken up. Dean’s not even sure if he’s actually sleeping, but without giving any further thought to it, he’s closing the driver’s side door and leaning through the back window.

“Cas.”

The angel is alert immediately, and Dean almost feels bad for waking him up. “We’re, uh, we’re back.”

“Home.” Cas nods serenely, expression softening as he looks at Dean.

Dean isn’t sure what expression his own face is making, but it’s somewhere in the vicinity of a smile. He is still leaning in the window, and he knows that he should say something, but he also knows he can’t say what he means. He decides to offer what he can.

“D’you wanna watch a movie?” Dean asks, and it may not be grand, but it’s sincere.

Cas’ smile brightens at it, anyway, like there’s nothing he’d rather have heard or been offered, and Dean steps away to open the door for him as Cas opens his mouth, presumably to say yes to the movie—

“I love you.”

Dean freezes at that, but when he looks at Cas he is so genuine, so earnest, and Dean thinks that maybe it’s not panic that he’s feeling course through his veins, but rather something softer and more hopeful.

It’s been too many goddamn years, and Dean doesn’t have it in him to shove it down anymore, so he does not respond with something dismissive or funny or witty.

“Yeah.” His voice is quiet, and maybe he can’t quite get the words out, but he has Cas’s hand in his, and at least he can look Cas in the eyes this time. Dean thinks that for now, he can love quietly and still call it love, and that will be enough. Cas is looking at him like he already knows, because he always does, and Dean is doing his best. Offering what he can. 

The window is digging into his arm now, but he barely notices, because this time, he’s the one leaning in for a kiss, and when Cas meets him in the middle, Dean does not pull away. 

When he finally gets around to moving so Cas can get out of the backseat— Dean opens the car door like a proper gentleman— he has to laugh.

There, in the sky above them, is a rainbow.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you if you've made it this far!  
> If you feel like leaving some feedback, writing for this fandom is my main source of serotonin currently, so I'd appreciate anything you've got to offer!  
> Ik I'm new here, but I have quite a few other fics on my blog on tumblr, so if you want to check me out (or yell about the finale together), I'm @cursed-or-not.


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